TRIGONA New South Wales Treasury Corporation (TCorp) sees an opportunity for GSS [green, social and sustainability] issuance to play a larger role in our overall funding mix going forward. This is not only due to our larger issuance programme but also measures the government has taken in response to COVID-19 that we may be able to incorporate into our asset pool.

We suspect this will also be the case for other types of public-sector issuers, which should be supportive of the sector. We are encouraged by the growth of the wider GSS sector and the interest the investor base has shown in TCorp GSS-branded bonds. I see this becoming a mainstream form of issuance.

KÖB I like to dream big and I think, at the end of the day, sustainable finance will be the mainstream form of finance. All bonds will tell us where their proceeds go and social factors will be properly priced in. These exercises will not be undertaken on the side – they will be normal. I don’t think this will happen in the next 12 months but the progress being made in this direction will continue.

LI I agree. At some point in the future we will not be talking about sustainable finance because everything in finance will have a sustainability matrix or sustainability factored into it.

If you are not considering ESG, there is an increasing chance investors will not finance you or at least you will have to pay a penalty. Hopefully we see this develop in the near future.

TURNER An important step to achieving this is the regulation we are starting to see emerge. In the next 12 months we will start to see some of this regulation come into force in different jurisdictions. We will also see the final Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative roadmap released, which will help shape sustainable finance here.

JARAMILLO I hope in Australia we are able to see more policy certainty and more consistent language. If in 12 months’ time we can have a ‘dictionary’ to talk about transition and climate change it will be a great development.

KÖB Language matters. We have seen this in the green-bond space, where there is now a much more developed vocabulary and it has helped the expansion of the market.

MATHEWS From the perspective of a bank, and considering our relationships with customers, going beyond 12 months I hope there is not a need for a specific sustainable-finance department. Environmental, social and governance is an integral part of what we do and sustainability performance is fully incorporated into our credit ratings.